Master Production Copy Unboxing!
almost 4 years ago – Fri, May 01, 2020 at 12:05:40 AM

The master production proof copy arrived from the printer on Monday! For anyone wanting to watch 29 minutes of unboxing goodness, I made this video of opening everything.

My job now is to go through all of the components for completeness, to be sure all of the cards have the right backs, etc. Once I okay everything, it should be just a few weeks until the games are ready to send to fulfillment centers. I've already sent the printer the list of how many games each fulfillment center needs, so they can move from the press to the pallet with no delay, and then ship when ready.

I've already given the okay to finish production of the Tower Laboratory and Cursed Library expansions. I am still testing the tower from the base game, but that should finish up tomorrow.

Finally, I'm going to make a tower assembly video. The tower comes on two punch boards, and there is an assembly sheet in the box but since I need to build the tower for test purposes I'll video it!

Second Edition Island Siege Kickstarter 

Oh, and I'll take this opportunity to shamelessly  plug our next Kickstarter, launching next week. The second edition of Island Siege is back and way, way better than ever. 

You can get a preview of the project here. Sign up for the APE newsletter to be informed when the project launches!

Stay safe out there.

Stygian Society Production Update
about 4 years ago – Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 12:29:58 AM

The factory is back to work and has sent me a couple of production proofs for evaluation.

The Insert

The decision whether to use a cardboard or plastic insert came down to stability, given that the tower takes up 100% of the box height. I didn't approve this version of the tower, but it's not bad, and it'll look very much like this when you get your game. Note the slots for the tower tabs. I've asked for them to add a 'floor' to the tower section for the tower base to rest on so there isn't pressure on the tabs when it is stored in the box. There are thumb holes on each side to easily pull the tower from the box by the middle plastic connector.

There is plenty enough room on the right to hold all of the base game components, plus Kickstarter pieces and expansions.

The Field Board

Next, I had them make a very minor change to the field board to put the crypt holes a few millimeters further away from the tower. This will make fewer cubes drop into the crypt when they tumble out of the tower. 

So, that's all for now. Stay safe everyone, and play games online. There are several great titles on services like Tabletopia and Game Board Arena, including our classic Island Siege which we'll launch again on Kickstarter when things get back to some new normal.

COVID-19, The Stygian Society and You
about 4 years ago – Mon, Feb 17, 2020 at 02:04:54 AM

The Lunar New Year has passed, but workers in China are slow in returning to work due to the COVID-19 virus. Here is a message from our printer:

Due to the ongoing Coronavirus situation in China, a government-mandated Chinese New Years holiday extension stretched our factory shutdown past the scheduled reopening earlier last week.

Our management made the difficult decision to postpone factory operations some time longer. This additional time is not government-mandated, but we made this decision to protect our workers and reduce the chance of an outbreak. Many of our workers are just recently returning to Shenzhen, and one of the characteristics of the Coronavirus is that people can be infected without immediately showing symptoms. We want to provide a safe and comfortable work environment for our staff, which includes taking precautions to give each individual the confidence that they are not being exposed to a health risk at work.

Some staff will be able to work remotely, and we're working to see what can be done in the mean time. As we monitor the situation we'll have further updates.

Of course we want people to be safe and take precautions to avoid the spread of the virus. This will inevitably mean an additional slip for The Stygian Society. I don't have a date, but I will post again when the printer provides me more data.

Stygian Society Production Update
over 4 years ago – Sat, Jan 18, 2020 at 11:11:41 PM

Per the printer, final production is waiting on the wood parts, which should arrive 'mid-February'. This is much later than I would have liked, to be sure. 

They are also still working on the plastic vacuum tray, but that will not be the 'long pole'. The key is getting the tray to hold the tower securely so that nothing short of a fall from several feet will cause it to come apart once it's been assembled. I'll post a picture showing the components in the box with the tray once I get a sample.

Speaking of tower assembly, my friend Tommy at Meeple Realty created a tower assembly instruction sheet. We're still putting the finishing touches on it, but you can get the idea here.

Additionally, the reverse side of the punchboards show art for the inside of the tower. There is text on each tower piece that describes its position (e.g., Upper Back, Lower Right, etc.). 

The pieces fit tightly into the top, middle and bottom plastic connectors, so all you'll need to do after initial setup is just plug it into the field board as shown in step 6.

Production Update + SPLORCH!
over 4 years ago – Thu, Dec 12, 2019 at 02:23:17 AM

It's been a couple of weeks, so let me give you an update. 

Stygian Society Production Update

Production is rolling along for all of the print, cubes, and wood. The plastics team is working on executing the final adjustment to the molds (for the tower). And now that all of that is sorted out the plastic vacuum tray team is working with the specs, physical samples, and your diagrams to design the tray. I will receive a digital mock-up for review before the physical sample. I'll send pictures.

Tariffs on toys and games from China have been delayed a couple of times already, and the experts are expecting a delay or deal again since no one wants an economic downturn for Christmas. We'll let you know if there are tariffs on games before we ship. It shouldn't affect the timing of games arriving on your doorstep, but APE will need to find ~$15K somewhere to get them through customs.

SPLORCH!

About a month ago I had a fun idea to make a  little Apples-to-Apples-like card game where players compete to create the sound that two objects would make when they collide. For instance, a can of paint falling on someone's head.

After a couple of weekends working on it, I present to you SPLORCH!

We'll randomly select twenty of our American Stygian backers to get a copy for free! Winners will be announced on or before Christmas. Good luck! (Or not, the game could suck.)

If you're not a winner, there's good chance that we'll do a Make 100 project for the game on Kickstarter in January.

Island Siege Anniversary Edition

Speaking of Kickstarter, we will launch a project for an upgraded Island Siege game. With luck, this will also happen in late January. There will be LOTS of goodies here! Watch for more details in a future post.

Happy Holidays

I'm looking forward to the down time, so that I can knock out a lot of APE work that I can't seem to find time for during the normal day-to-day.

I'm also looking forward to playing some non-APE games with family and friends - something I don't get to do nearly often enough. I have spent my wind-down time at night painting Nighthaunts, and I hope to whup up on my friend's goblin gits in a huge Age of Sigmar game. 

How about you - what will you be playing?